Myths & Facts on India’s Vaccination Process Posted On: 27 MAY 2021 12:01PM by PIB Delhi https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1722078
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1722234 Posted On: 27 MAY 2021 6:40PM by PIB Delhi
Recoveries continue to outnumber new cases for 14th consecutive day
Recovery rate increases to 90.01%
Daily positivity rate at 9.79%, less than 10% for 3 consecutive days
20.27 Cr. Vaccine Doses administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
No disruption of oxygen supply took place due to Cyclone Yaas
Highest single day load of 1195 MT Oxygen relief to the Nation delivered by Oxygen Expresses
Rebuttal : https://www.rediff.com/news/report/covid-19-is-the-niti-aayog-right/20210528.htm
| Vinod Paul | R Ramakumar |
| Myth 1: Centre is not doing enough to buy vaccines from abroad Fact: The Central Government has remained engaged continuously with all the major international vaccine manufacturers right from mid-2020. As soon as Pfizer indicated vaccine availability, Central Government and the company are working together for the earliest possible import of the vaccine. As a result of GoI’s efforts, Sputnik vaccine trials got accelerated and with timely approval, Russia has already sent two tranches of vaccines & accomplishedtech-transfer to our companies that would start manufacturing very soon | 2/ Myth 1: The criticism against GoI is that it delayed placing advance purchase orders for vaccines till January 2021. Other nations had placed orders by June 2020 itself. Bangladesh placed its first order with SII in November 2020. Why couldn't the GoI place orders earlier? 3/ Orders were not placed with foreign or domestic producers till 2021. On the foreign front, none of the discussions from "mid-2020" resulted in any order placed till April 2021. Further, no foreign vaccine had emergency use approval in India to facilitate placement of orders. 4/ On the domestic front, the assumptions were: (a) India's production capacity is sufficient to meet India's demand; (b) "Made in India" vaccines would be sufficient for India; and (c) all of production within India is for India's use. All the three assumptions were misplaced. 5/ On (a) and (b), even the most liberal projections never placed India's production capacity above 28 lakh doses/day, when it needed 54 lakh doses/day to vaccinate 100% of its 18+ population in 12 months. It was clear to all that we needed foreign vaccines. Except the GoI! 6/ On (c), on what basis did the GoI assume that all of India's domestic production capacity can be for India's use? GoI knew that firms like SII had export commitments? Adar Poonawalla had publicly stated in October 2020 that half his production was earmarked for other countries |
| Myth 2: Centre has not approved vaccines available globally Fact: The Central Government has proactively eased entry of vaccines approved by US FDA, EMA, UK's MHRA and Japan's PMDA, and WHO's Emergency Use Listing into India in April. These vaccines will not need to undergo prior bridging trials. The provision has now been further amended to waive off the trial requirement altogether for the well-established vaccines manufactured in other countries. No application of any foreign manufacturer for approval is pending with the drugs controller. |
7/ Myth 2: All this was after 13 April 2021. In February 2021, GoI denied EUA for Sputnik V citing absence of immunogenecity data. But it gave EUA for Covishield in Janaury 2021 without immunogenecity data. Why were different criteria applied to Covishield and Sputnik V? 8/ GoI also returned Pfizer's application for EUA citing absence of local bridging trials. But it gave Covaxin EUA in January 2021 without any Phase 3 data. In May 2021, we still do not have Phase 3 results of Covaxin! Why were different criteria applied to Covaxin and Pfizer? 9/ The reality: the 13 April decision to give EUA for more foreign vaccines was after the GoI realised (a) that its projections were all wrong; (b) its folly of betting on politics (a la atmanirbhar policy) rather than reason; (c) vaccine shortage grew dangerously after 7 April. 10/ This course correction of 13 April is now being publicised as a proactive policy initiative! The reality is that it was public pressure and ridicule that forced GoI to change track. |
| Myth 3: Centre is not doing enough to ramp up domestic production of vaccines Fact: The Central Government is playing the role of an effective facilitator to enable more companies to produce vaccines from the early 2020. There is only 1 Indian company (Bharat Biotech) which has the IP. GoI has ensured that 3 other companies/plants will start production of Covaxin apart from enhancing Bharat Biotech’s own plants, which have increased from 1 to 4. Covaxin production by Bharat Biotech is being increased from under 1 Cr per month to 10 Cr month by October. Additionally, the three PSUs will together aim to produce upto 4.0 Cr doses by December. With constant encouragement of the Government, Serum Institute is ramping up Covishield production of 6.5 crore doses per month to 11.0 crore doses per month. GoI is also ensuring in partnership with Russia that Sputnik will be manufactured by 6 companies coordinated by Dr Reddy’s. The Union Government is supporting efforts of Zydus Cadila, BioE as well Gennova for their respective indigenous vaccines through liberal funding under Covid Suraksha scheme as also the technical support at national laboratories. Development of Bharat Biotech’s single dose intranasal vaccine is proceeding well with GoI funding, and it could be a game-changer for the world. The estimate of production of over 200 crore doses by our vaccine industry by the end of 2021 is the result of such efforts and unstinted support and partnership. How many countries can even dream of such an enormous capacity, and that too across conventional as well as cutting-edge DNA and mRNA platforms? GoI and vaccine manufacturers have worked as one Team India in this mission with seamless engagement on daily basis. |
11/ Myth 3: The simple question is this: how much did the GoI "invest" in expanding the production capacity of vaccine companies in India in 2020 or 2021? The answer is zero. 12/ World over, governments invested in private companies to share risks with them, and later bought back vaccines from them at cheap prices. Examples are USA with Moderna; Germany with BioNTech; and UK with Oxford-AstraZeneca. Not in India, though. 13/ In India, the GoI provided money to SII and BB only after January 2021, that too in the form of advance payments on vaccine purchases. There was no support or investment. The only at-risk investment in SII of $150 million was from GAVI and Gates Foundation, not GoI. 14/ Contrary to what the release says, IPR of Covaxin is shared by GoI and BB. This is where the question arises: what did the GoI do with this IPR given that it had moved the WTO to globally waive vaccine IPRs? Why was one company given exclusive license till April 2021? 15/ Is it not true that the decision to give Covaxin licenses to three PSUs was arrived at only when the Supreme Court of India threatened to intervene? Having been forced by the court to decide so, the GoI is now showcasing it as another proactive policy initiative! 16/ On the other claims. By when will SII's capacity rise to 11 crore doses/month? On what basis is GoI saying that BB's capacity would rise 10-fold to 10 crore doses/month by October? And why is the GoI claiming higher supply of those vaccines in very early stages of testing? |
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Myth 4: Centre should invoke compulsory licensing Fact: Compulsory Licensing is not a very attractive option since it is not a ‘formula’ that matters, but active partnership, training of human resources, sourcing of raw materials and highest levels of bio-safety labs which is required. Tech transfer is the key and that remains in the hands of the company that has carried out R&D. Infact, we have gone one step ahead of Compulsory Licensing and are ensuring active partnership between Bharat Biotech & 3 other entities to enhance production of Covaxin. Similar mechanism is being followed for Sputnik. Think about this: Moderna had said in October 2020 that it will not sue any company which makes its vaccines, but still not one company has done it, which shows licensing is the least of the issues. If vaccine-making was so easy, why would even the developed world be so short of vaccine doses?
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17/ Myth 4: if compulsory licensing was not attractive, why is the GoI in the WTO asking for IPR waivers? The question of CL was raised in India with regard to Covaxin on which the GoI had a shared IPR. Why was a public IPR allowed to be used for private profiteering? 18/ Why was there an inordinate delay in providing more licenses to other producers in Covaxin? Even now, why is it that only three producers have been given licenses? Why not more? |
| Myth 5: Centre has abdicated its responsibility to the states Fact:The Central Government is doing all the heavy-lifting, from funding vaccine manufacturers to giving them quick approvals to ramping up production to bringing foreign vaccines to India. The vaccine procured by the Centre is supplied wholly to the states for free administration to people. All this is very much in the knowledge of the states. GoI has merely enabled states to try procuring vaccines on their own, on their explicit requests. The states very well knew the production capacity in the country and what the difficulties are in procuring vaccines directly from abroad. In fact, GoI ran the entire vaccine program from January to April & it was quite well-administrated compared to the situation in May. But states, who had not even achieved good coverage of healthcare workers and frontline workers in 3 months wanted to open up the process of vaccination and wanted more decentralisation. Health is a state subject & the liberalised vaccine policy was a result of the incessant requests being made by the states to give states more power. The fact that global tenders have not given any results only reaffirm what we have been telling the states from day one: that vaccines are in short supply in the world and it is not easy to procure them at short notice. |
19/ Myth 5: The shift of blame on to States was precisely the objective of the 19th April policy. The spirit of the State's demand was the demand for decentralisation of vaccine distribution, not procurement. It things were "well-administered" till May, why not continue it? 20/ This explanation makes the centre look silly. Was the 19 April policy introduced just to prove a point to the States? If GoI knew there were no vaccines to buy, why did it push the States into that quagmire? Is it some ego battle that is on, or serious public policy making? 21/ The GoI cannot hide the fact that it bungled on the vaccine policy. It has to accept its error and move ahead without blaming States, who are just in charge of distribution. Of course, some States may be poor in vaccination, but its GoI's job to get vaccines. Own it. |
| Myth 6: Centre is not giving enough vaccines to the states Fact: Centre is allotting enough vaccines to the states in a transparent manner as per agreed guidelines. In fact, states are also being informed in advance of the vaccine availability. Vaccine availability is going to increase in near future and much more supply would be possible. In the non-GoI channel, states are getting 25% of the doses and private hospitals are getting 25% doses. However the hiccups and issues faced by the people in the administration of these 25% doses by the states leave a lot to be desired. The behaviour of some of our leaders, who in spite of full knowledge of the facts on vaccine supply, appear on TV daily and create panic among the people is very unfortunate. This is not the time to play politics. We need everyone to unite in this fight. |
22/ Myth 6: Look at this sentence: "the hiccups and issues faced by the people in the administration of these 25% doses by the states leave a lot to be desired". You have a production capacity of less than 28 lakh doses/day. Out of that, GoI has booked 22 lakh doses/day. 23/ Of the remaining 6 lakh doses/day, private hospitals take 3 lakh doses/day. For all the States, what is remaining is 3 lakh doses/day. And after creating this sham, you turn around and blame the States? 24/ Its high time that the Niti Ayog stops being a tail of the BJP. You are a policy-making body. You have to provide reasoned policy advises to the GoI. It is not your job to enter into political fist fights with opposition parties. Seriously guys, have some sense! Do your work. |
| Myth 7: Centre is not taking any step to vaccinate children Fact: As of now, no country in the world is giving vaccines to children.* Also, WHO has no recommendation on vaccinating children. There have been studies about safety of vaccines in children, which have been encouraging. Trials in children in India are also going to begin soon. However, vaccinating children should not be decided on the basis of panic in Whatsapp groups and because some politicians want to play politics. It has to be a decision taken by our scientists after adequate data is available based on trials. *The release mentions that 'no country in the world is giving vaccines to children'. It should read 'no country in the world is giving vaccines to children under 12 years.' The other points made in that section are valid. The inadvertent typographical omission is regretted. |
Fact Checking The Government's Vaccine Fact Check | Reality Check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEjlZRjQCpc
Anant Ban, Researcher: https://youtube.com/embed/kEjlZRjQCpc?start=440&end=537
Sunil Alagh https://youtube.com/embed/kEjlZRjQCpc?start=537&end=695
Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena https://youtube.com/embed/kEjlZRjQCpc?start=813&end=854 & what should central govt do now: https://youtube.com/embed/kEjlZRjQCpc?start=1309&end=1400
Dr Arvind SOIN Medanta https://youtu.be/kEjlZRjQCpc?t=695
Watch: BJP responds to Rahul Gandhi's attack over vaccination, nautanki remark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqjHK6ztrXI Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on May 28 claimed that India will vaccinate its entire population by 2021. Javadekar's claim came in response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's attack at the government. Rahul Gandhi, in a press briefing had attacked the government over a sluggish vaccination drive.